AUTHORS OFFER TIPS FOR FINDING WORK IN YOUR 20S

Book urges young job seekers to network, find internships

That’s a question many young professionals fresh out of college are asking. After all, many ads say you need to have experience to get experience. (At 27, I remember those frustrations well from my post-grad school days.)

For those who are still looking, two authors from Carmel Valley have published a book to answer the questions a first-time job seeker may have. It’s called “From Ramen to Riches: Finding a Job in Your 20s,” by the husband-and-wife-team Lauren Tanny and James Wood. It’s about 150 pages and is available in print for $9.95 in some bookstores and on
Amazon.com, while a Kindle edition is on sale for $2.99.

In an interview, Tanny, 56, an executive coach and management consultant (who has changed careers seven times), said in a nutshell it comes down to networking.

“You start with people you know and you just keep connecting from there. For once, your parents’ friends may be useful in your life,” she quipped.

Wood, 53, worked in the tech industry for 25 years.

Tanny, who has an MBA from Stanford and is a former chief operating officer for a dot-com, said those who send out résumés online and wait for a call are “swimming with sharks.”

“There isn’t a better way to get depressed than that,” she said. “I’m feeling like I’m productive, I’m sending out 47 résumés a day, I’m hearing nothing back.”

This is the duo’s second book, with the first on how to better manage money in your 20s. The book on jobs, released in October, covers many facets of the search, from the big-picture beginning stages to résumé writing to accepting a job offer.

“We all have made a lot of mistakes along the way, and some of the way that we give back to the world is to say, ‘Hey, let’s make it easier for people who are in their 20s,’ ” Tanny said, noting her biggest regret was not doing enough self-assessment to find out what she really wanted to do in her earlier years.

Tanny said the biggest difference between a job search for someone in their 20s versus someone in their, say, 40s, is that younger people are more of an unknown for employers.

“When you’re in your 40s or beyond, you have a track record,” she said. “Really what it comes down to is hiring is all about risk, and an employer is looking to reduce risk.”

So then — the age-old question — how do you get experience if you don’t have experience? Tanny said she’s a big proponent of internships, even after graduation.

She said they don’t necessarily have to be unpaid. Internships have less risk, are for a fixed length of time, but provide a new opportunity.

“More and more internships are acceptable and people in their 40s and 50s who are changing careers are doing internships,” Tanny said. “I don’t think you have to do them for free, but it’s a great way to prove yourself.”